Ei-iE

Within the framework of Global Action Week's activities to be held from 24th to 30th April, EI issued an open letter on 30 March, signed by the President and General Secretary of EI, recalling the issues behind this year's message "Every Child Needs a Teacher".

The EI Research Network is holding its second meeting in Brussels from 29-30 March. The network comprises research officers from EI affiliates.

SONK, EI’s Macedonian affiliate, is celebrating the legalisation of a new trade union centre of which it was a founding member.

EI recently attended a convention held by the "National Unions of Students in Europe" (ESIB) from 10-14 March in Vienna, Austria, on the "Higher Education and the Lisbon strategy ". EI was also part of a panel on a discussion session entitled "Who cares? Who dares?" on the "Lisbon strategy...

After signing an agreement with EI affiliate SONK for a 12-percent salary increase for teachers in the next 12 months, the Macedonian government now questions the legitimacy of the teacher union.

The EI Pan-European Standing Commitee for Higher Education and Research conducted a meeting recently in Sesimbra, Portugal, from 16-18 March, with a seminar on the "New Developments in Higher Education and Research: Consequences for the academic personnel" within the framework of the ETUCE-TRACE Project.

As the ILO-UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Recommendations on Teachers (CEART) will meet in Geneva this October and EI will be presenting a report to the committee, EI invites all member organisations to contribute to the drafting of this report.

Education International is pleased to report that good progress is being made with the development and rebuilding of schools in Aceh and Sri Lanka, the areas which were destroyed by the tsunami of December 2004.

During the UN Millennium Summit in the year 2000, world leaders reaffirmed their commitment to achieving equal rights for women and girls by approving Goal 3 on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. It was not the first time that such a pledge had been made.

The fourth EI Congress in Porto Alegre stressed that EI and teachers’ unions worldwide are committed to the success of the EFA initiative. In relation to this, each year UNESCO, on behalf of UN agencies, releases a “Global Monitoring Report” assessing the progress made on achieving the goal of EFA.

Following its 26th Meeting last week, the Executive Board of Education International has announced two new appointments.

Education International and its teachers' unions worldwide are playing a leading role in the Global Action Week to increase the pressure on governments to demonstrate greater leadership to ensure that all children get the chance to be taught by qualified teachers.

On behalf of all its member organisations, EI has expressed its sympathy to its four affiliates in the Philippines after the entire village of Guinsaugon, in the town of St Bernard on the southern part of Leyte, in the central Philippines, was buried by a major landslide on Friday 17...

Education International has written to Mikheil Saakashvili, the president of the Republic of Georgia, and Alexander Lomaia the minister of education & science, in support of affiliate the Educators and Scientists Free Trade Union of Georgia.

EI and other trade union bodies are monitoring the situation in Nepal closely, as hundreds of pro-democracy activists are still detained across the country.

Meeting in the historic city of Sevilla, Spain, last week, the World Confederation of Teachers (WCT) approved the agreement negotiated by the two Executive Boards to join with EI in a new integrated structure.

EI sent a message to the King of Nepal, strongly protesting against the massive arrests of human rights activists, including teachers belonging to its affiliated teacher unions in the country.

Together with the General Secretary of Spanish affiliate the "Federación de Enseñanza de CC.OO" (FE.CC.OO), EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen met with the Secretary General of the Ministry of Education, Alejandro Tiana, on 31 Jan.